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Zach Johnson lines up a putt on the 18th hole of the Pro-Am round at the Rogers Charity Classic. Photo by Brent Calver /Postmedia Calgary

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“Yeah … look, it doesn’t get any easier,” Green said. “You know … we just getting older and older all the time, and we’re dealing with our own ailments a little bit.”

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But Calgary gives him something perhaps more valuable than an easy walk …

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That’s confidence.

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“I feel like this golf course is one that you know I can do obviously do the job at,” Green said. “And it’s nice going into this week with that sort of confidence in the background.”

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That confidence was earned the hard way last August.

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Green had struggled the previous week in Seattle, particularly with the terrain. But when he arrived in Calgary early, something clicked.

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“Got here and just felt really comfortable,” he said. “A little bit like I felt again this week.”

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The greens were immediately familiar to his eye. His swing felt better. His approach shots were finding the fairways. And, perhaps most importantly, he felt the kind of comfort that golfers chase from week to week and rarely find.

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“The greens were just as to my liking, as they could be,” Green said. “Instantly felt I had the feel on the greens and hitting the ball a good way down the fairways. I felt really comfortable with it.”

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Richard Green hoists the Rogers Charity Classic trophy after securing the victory at Canyon Meadows last August. Photo by Brent Calver /Postmedia Calgary archive

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Then came the Saturday that changed everything.

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Green’s 62 put him at 13-under through 36 holes, just one shot behind Jiménez, who had opened with consecutive 63s.

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Sunday’s final round then became a test of whether Green could finally finish the job.

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He did.

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Gonzalez made things particularly interesting by birdieing four of his final five holes, including the last two, to close with a 65. Green, playing in the group behind, answered with a birdie of his own on the par-5 18th — a closing 5-under 65 that secured the championship by a single stroke.

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The numbers tell the story: 65-62-65 for 192, an 18-under-par total.

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The significance goes deeper.

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It was Green’s first PGA TOUR Champions title in his 71st start, coming after those five runner-up finishes in 2024.

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For the Aussie, it was a victory to savour.

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“Amongst sort of everybody that means the most to me, we celebrated for a while,” he said. “Obviously up into Christmas was pretty good fun, knowing that I’d had a great year and a win on tour and achieved a goal.”

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He admitted the triumph followed him into the next tournament.

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“The next week last year in Michigan, I was walking around on Cloud 9, really,” Green said. “Just trying to keep yourself a little bit sort of on the norm was hard to do.”

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That is what a breakthrough can do.

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For years, Green had known he belonged. He had won three times on the DP World Tour and had been consistently competitive since joining the Champions Tour. But knowing you can win and actually winning are two very different things.

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“Just builds your confidence to know that you can win out here amongst the guys that play on the Champions Tour,” Green said. “It’s pretty much the elite of the elite, if you like, that are playing out here.”

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And now he returns to the scene of that breakthrough carrying something he did not have before …

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Proof.

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Proof that the course suits him.

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Proof that his game can hold up when the pressure builds.

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Proof that his putting can carry him when it matters most.

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And, apparently, proof that perhaps there is something to the superstitions he holds dear …

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Although he knows, of course, that golf does not work quite that neatly.

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“Look, in an ideal world, it’d be nice, but you know, not every week is like that,” said Green, remembering arriving here last year after a disappointing week in Seattle and suddenly feeling that his golf swing had clicked, remembering the greens looking right, remembering the confidence building and remembering the final putt.

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“It was a great feeling, obviously.”

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